B2B companies are increasingly focusing on the importance of content marketing as part of a successful business strategy. Through content marketing, you provide your target customers with important information that contributes decisively to the solution of their wishes and needs.
What is Content Marketing?
The term content marketing refers to the creation and marketing of valuable content that is targeted to a specific audience. Content marketing is part of an overall online marketing strategy.
It is the strategy of using relevant content to attract attention and generate new leads for your business.
In the end, it's all about raising awareness and creating profitable business relationships.
Goals in content marketing include:
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Acquisition of new customers
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Introduction of a new brand
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Increase of the degree of popularity
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Improvement of image of the company
Content marketing uses many different channels for content preparation. In addition to the distribution of articles on the own website, social media channels or newsletters as email attachments are increasingly part of it.
The preparation of content marketing, among other things, takes place through:
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Blog posts
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Guides
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Tutorials
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Glossaries
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E-books
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Whitepapers
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Contributions in forums
When it comes to content marketing, the strategic orientation of the respective campaign is important. Goals must be defined and a clear plan must define measures to achieve these goals.
What is the importance of content marketing in B2B?
The dissemination of relevant content is not a one-size-fits-all approach that applies like a grid to all business sectors equally. Instead, there are peculiarities in the B2B segment that differ from the requirements for end consumers.
Peculiarities of the B2B market
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Small market focused on a few target customers
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Long cycles in purchasing decisions
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Technical arguments in the foreground
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Based on relationship with business customers
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Target customers seeking expertise and efficiency
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Focus on lead generation
In B2B content marketing, the focus is not on selling products. It is much more important to address the wants and needs of potential customers with valuable content.
It is about gaining trust and giving the target customer the feeling that he is understood and that he will find the right solutions for his needs at his own company.
Good B2B content marketing is geared towards offering future customers added value and providing answers to potential questions the prospect may have. This not only creates trust towards the content author, but also puts the company's products in the focus of the target customer.
Successful B2B content marketing aims at informing the potential customer comprehensively and deposits a possible purchase decision without appearing manipulative.
Content Marketing Strategy for B2B
B2B content marketing should not be scattered widely across the internet. It is valuable content that is distributed precisely and structured to selected target customers in your business.
It is not a matter of spreading your company secrets, but of attracting the attention of desirable customers to your company.
This can be compared to the wisdom from the fishing lore that the bait must taste good to the fish so that it bites on the hook.
The same applies to B2B content marketing, because here, too, the right strategy is the key to success.
Criteria for a successful B2B content marketing strategy
Define target group
The first step in defining the target group is to select the desired customers. You must be able to describe the individual contacts well and know who is responsible at the product and decision-making level. To do this, it is crucial to analyze the entire buying center so that a targeted approach can then be made.
Possible questions to ask the target persons:
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What is the personal background in the company?
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What is the job description of the interviewee?
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What challenges does the target person face?
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Can the contact person make decisions or is he or she a member of a team?
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What objections might the target person have?
Only if you know the wishes and needs of your target group can tailor-made content marketing be delivered.
Understanding the Customer Journey
The prospect's journey from first contact with your company to successful purchase as a satisfied customer is a long one. These four stages are important in the context of the Customer Journey:
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Attract
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Engage
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Convert
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Delight
Keep in mind that much of the Customer Journey is now conducted online and it's important to be present at all touchpoints. This is where your content marketing should come in, so that at every touchpoint you have content ready to answer any potential questions the customer may have ahead of time. However, this only works if you have analysed the wishes and needs of your target customer well in the first step.
Source: Customer Journey according to Pedalix
Create relevant content
For your B2B content marketing, it is crucial to know all the topic areas along the customer journey of your potential customers and to fill them with suitable content.
With the help of a keyword research, relevant focal points can be found in the topics.
The following content types can help your potential customers clarify important questions in advance:
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Detailed explanatory articles
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Comparisons between different providers
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Case studies from the field
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Testimonials
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Checklists
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Live video demonstrations
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Product lists and prices
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Test versions of individual products
When providing content, it is important to ensure that the topics delivered are in line with your own product range.
Distribute content
B2B content marketing content is usually distributed online through various channels. It is good to know the individual media through which your potential customers communicate. Here is a selection of important channels to distribute content marketing:
When spreading your content marketing, it's a good idea to add lead magnets and conversion elements to your content to get a first contact opportunity with your ideal customers.
Source: Personalized Newsletter from Pedalix Software
Measure results
The final stage of a content marketing campaign is the measurement of success. This process requires a realistic time horizon and the right tools to measure success. These KPIs can be used to measure the success of the respective campaign, for example:
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Number of direct leads generated
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Total number of enquiries made in the company
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Number of clicks and traffic for blog posts
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Capture of achieved backlinks
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Likes and comments made on posts in social media channels
The collected results serve as a starting point for adjustments or the continuation of the campaign.
Conclusion
With content marketing, you create customer relationships based on expertise and trust instead of pushy advertising. In this way, you create sustainable customer relationships and communicate at eye level with your target group.
B2B content marketing thus helps your company reach new customers and retain them in the long term.
